ALPINE SCULPTURE. 237 



Via Mala throws light upon the whole. Near Bergiin, 

 in the valley of the Albula, there is also a little Via 

 Mala, which is not less significant than the great one. 

 The river flows here through a profound limestone 

 gorge, and to the very edges of the gorge we have the 

 evidences of erosion. But the most striking illustra- 

 tion of water-action upon limestone rock that I have 

 ever seen is the gorge at Pfaffere. Here the traveller 

 passes along the side of the chasm midway between top 

 and bottom. Whichever way he looks, backwards or 

 forwards, upwards or downwards, towards the sky or 

 towards the river, he meets everywhere the irresistible 

 and impressive evidence that this wonderful fissure has 

 been sawn through the mountain by the waters of the 

 Tamina. 



I have thus far confined myself to the consideration 

 of the gorges formed by the cutting through of the 

 rock-barriers which frequently cross the valleys of the 

 Alps; as far as they have been examined by me they 

 are the work of erosion. But the larger question still 

 remains, To what action are we to ascribe the forma- 

 tion of the valleys themselves? This question includes 

 that of the formation of the mountain-ridges, for were 

 the valleys wholly filled, the ridges would disappear. 

 Possibly no answer can be given to this question which 

 is not beset with more or less of difficulty. Special 

 localities might be found which would seem to contra- 

 dict every solution which refers the conformation of 

 the Alps to the operation of a single cause. 



Still the Alps present features of a character suffi- 

 ciently definite to bring the question of their origin 

 within the sphere of close reasoning. That they were 

 in whole or in part once beneath the sea will not be 

 disputed; for they are in great part composed of sedi- 

 mentary rocks which required a sea to form them. 



